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24 thoughts on “Freeze Tag Is BANNED”

Sorry, when I see stuff like this, my BS detector goes on alert. It’s not that these games were banned. It’s that they were banned in programs that didn’t have the proper supervision. They were considered “risky” activities that required a certain amount of regulation. They’ve also dropped these games from the list.
See here.

MH, actually, it seems to have been a Republican health commish who was retiring (and recently passed away suddenly after retiring). Just FWIW. The guy was also a proponent of obesity prevention.
Regulations are common sense for a lot of people, but the fact is, there are a lot of stupid or uncaring people who need rules in order to do the right thing. Were I going to be rude, I might suggest that religion serves a similar purpose (I mean really? You need to have a commandment from God to keep you from killing other people?).

EVERYTHING carries risk. Going outside? SUNBURN. Walking down the sidewalk? Drunk driver running off the road. Jogging? Falls and broken bones. The thing is, activity ALWAYS carries some risk… the question is what LEVEL of risk is acceptable. Now a’days we’re lowering our risk levels far too much. We consider it too dangerous to do anything.
Please, don’t breath. You might take in some pollution particles that will cause cancer and death.
It gets ridiculous, and that we’re imposing this on our kids is teaching them not to take risk, not to try, and not to be active. Wonder why kids are obese and sit in front of the TV or video games all day? It’s because they’ve learned that the only thing that’s “safe” is electronic media and food.

That’s not rude. That’s just obvious. I’d kill all kinds of people if I wasn’t afraid of God. I’d also covet two of my neighbors’ wives but not the rest of them.
But, the point of the articles is that somebody saw something happening and wanted to regulate it. I’m certainly not going to argue it is an impulse unique to the Democratic Party. But, it still annoys me.

In our neighborhood, quality entertainment for the bigger neighbor kids consists of running in and out of the backyards of vacant houses with light sabers and various other toy weaponry. Those houses are going to be bulldozed soon, though, so the kids will have to cope.

“the point of the articles is that somebody saw something happening and wanted to regulate it.”
ARGH. Yes, of course someone saw something happening and wanted to regulate it. My point is that WE DO THAT ALL THE TIME. It’s not regulation in and of itself that’s the problem. It’s what is being regulated and why things are regulated.
I am so sick of complaints about intrusive big government regulating the poor well-meaning individuals, when the same people complaining allow an imaginary* God to regulate what they are allowed to eat on Fridays and how much foreskin their kids should have. At least governments derive their power to regulate from the consent of the governed.
*Yeah, whatever. I’m an offensive atheist.

So only atheists and agnostics are allowed to complain about bureaucrats? O.K. So, how long is the form one must file to be exempted?
On topic, of course the state day camp association’s in favor of it. Nothing like stupid regulations to discourage competition.

“My point is that WE DO THAT ALL THE TIME.”
‘Exactly. That’s why I reflexively oppose nearly every new regulation.’
Right. One in, one out, or else we risk the sort of lawlessness that comes when people realize that there are so many rules that there’s no point in even trying to comply with them. I’ve mentioned this example before, but my personal arrrrgh! moment was when my husband told me about Texas’s Drug War-inspired restrictions on lab supplies. From a lab goods supplier:
“We have recently become aware that Texas has some kind of “drug precursor” law or regulation which requires a permit to own boiling flasks, erlenmeyer flasks, distilling apparati, filter flasks, adapter tubes, and the like.”http://www.crscientific.com/texas-glassware.html
Somebody saw that meth labs use all of this stuff, and somebody decided that this equipment should require a permit, which apparently requires the applicant to allow law enforcement to inspect the intended use area. This is all incredibly invasive and stupid, and there’s no realistic way to get rid of the regulation once it’s in place.
Among the inconvenienced: homeschoolers, chemistry enthusiasts, and (I just discovered) home brewers.
In the immortal words of Kathy Shaidle (you can buy the t-shirt!), “You’re not smart enough to tell me how to live.”

Have I mentioned that I really detest the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board? The usual vague threats of privatizing them are becoming more specific and possible. The PLCB heads are now scrambling to keep their monopoly by arguing that if you privatize liquor sales, people will be able to buy liquor more cheaply and with less hassle.

More important than the issue of obesity we are teaching our children to be afraid. We are teaching them not to try things because “someone might get hurt”. Well, duh! Of course someone might get hurt.
For instance when I visit the pediatrician she always says “keep the children out of the kitchen, it’s a dangerous place.” Yup, I agree. That’s why I have my children in the kitchen from very little. They learn how to be appropriate in a potentially dangerous environment. Am I opening the oven? Everyone sits on the floor until the oven is closed. Are we using knives?
They are taught how to handle them, while well supervised. Could they cut themselves? Sure, and there have been some minor cuts and they have learned that I make rules for a reason.
Can someone get hurt playing Tag, Red-Rover etc.? Sure, so teach the children how to evaluate acceptable levels of risk, how to change the game to allow for mixed age and ability play groups etc. Don’t ban it.

First, I apologize if I am being offensive. I’m just trying to make the point that life is a series of regulations, whether you live in anarchy or not. If we had a tiny government, we’d still have religions and other self-regulating institutions. Why is government evil or stupid when it regulates, but religion is not? Why is it ok for the NCAA to set regulations and policies on its players to protect their brand, but it’s not ok for governments to do things in the name of protecting children?
I’m the last person to approve of banning something like freeze tag for exactly the reason Kyndra states. However, though I consider myself pretty Free Range as a parent, even I am affected by worries about kids and injury, especially those not my own, and especially when I’m the adult responsible. But not all adults are responsible enough.
There are reasons we have regulations and rules and commandments, and that’s to ensure that the stupidest and most immoral among us behave. The regulations reported in the original article came about because some people were running really sketchy day cares and camps. Obviously, the free market wasn’t addressing the issue, as it too often fails to do (and really, who wants a day care to fail at its job even once? If it’s your kid, once is once too often).
Maybe it was a stupid solution to the problem, and it did get changed, but it wasn’t brought about because people fear freeze tag. It came about because if you’re going to have a camp where kids play freeze tag, you’d better be following the rules to keep kids safe.

Wendy, I’m especially leery about regulations that come from somebody with the power to put me in jail and compell me to give them a portion of my income. Religions cannot do that here, which is good, nor can the NCAA, which is even better. The great potential damage that comes from cohersive power is why, for example, we have a Bill of Rights that is largely directed at limiting government power.

It came about because if you’re going to have a camp where kids play freeze tag, you’d better be following the rules to keep kids safe.
Leaving aside theology, and hopefully avoidig theocidy, what possible rule could be required to play freeze tag safetly that wouldn’t be required for just generally watching over kids who aren’t strapped to the wall?